1. Field of the Invention
The present inventive concept relates to an indoor toilet system for use by a pet, and more specifically to a reconfigurable pet potty system with an automatic-locking joint to prevent unintended transformations between various configurations.
2. Description of Related Art
In today's society, it is a common practice for a pet owner to allow a pet, e.g., a dog and/or cat, to live indoors. This practice of housing pets indoors is generally problematic because it is undesirable for the pet to go to the bathroom indoors, e.g., on carpet or other finished surface. As such, the owner must either escort the pet outdoors each time the pet needs to go to the bathroom or install a specialized door, e.g., a “doggy door,” to allow the pet to go outside at will.
In virtually all scenarios, the pet must be trained to refrain from going to the bathroom indoors. Further, if the owner is unable to install a specialized door, which is a luxury that is unavailable to many pet owners, the pet must also be trained to signal the pet owner each time the pet needs to go to the bathroom. Before the training process and during, as such typically involves repeated trials and errors, it is common for the pet to go to the bathroom indoors multiple times. Further, even after the training is complete, it is common for the pet to have accidents, e.g., if the pet owner is unavailable and cannot escort the pet outdoors when the pet needs to go to the bathroom, or the pet fails to adhere to the training.
Conventional indoor pet potty devices suffer from a variety of shortcomings. For instance, conventional devices utilize designs that make it difficult to transport, and difficult to clean and maintain. Additionally, some conventional devices utilize designs that make it difficult for a pet to properly use, e.g., the pet may have its front paws on and its rear paws off of the device, which may result in the pet going to the bathroom on a finished surface of an interior of a house.
Thus, there is a need for pet potty system that does not suffer from the shortcomings of conventional devices, e.g., is easy to transport, and easy to clean and maintain.